“My only question is: is it right to kill an American citizen without a trial?” questions one San Francisco resident, who preferred not to be named.

It’s believed that an airstrike carried out by a US drone hit a convoy carrying al-Qaeda leaders, according to the AP. News source, sfgate.com, here in San Francisco, says the strike on al-Awlaki’s convoy was carried out by a joint operation of the CIA with the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command. It had taken three weeks of surveillance to find the right moment to attack.

The news source, the New York Times says that senior administration officials have now confirmed the death of al-Awlaki.

According to sfgate.com, “The air strike was carried out more openly than the covert operation that sent Navy SEALs into bin Laden’s Pakistani compound, U.S. officials said.” (See article here on the Navy SEAL operation: SF mourns loss of Navy SEAL helicopter shot down)

Awlaki’s lectures, says the New York Times, have been linked to various terrorist attacks that have taken place on American soil. Those include the shooting at Fort Hood, the underwear bomber’s attack, and the would-be Times Square bombing attempt that took place last year. (See that article here: Top News: Three arrests in Times Square car bomb investigation)

Al-Awlaki was also the first American to be put on the “kill or capture” list held by the CIA.

Newser.com says that one US official talked about al-Awlaki’s operational role and said:

“First and foremost, we’ve been looking at his important operational role,” the official told the Times newspaper. “To the extent he’s no longer playing that role is all to the good.”

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See the previous, disturbing, video on al-Awlaki shown on ABC 7 News on May 6, 2011, on the left-hand side.